Shoe with bellows pocket upper



Sept. 27, 1949. J. A LUSSIER' 2,483,016

SHOE WIT'H BELLOWS POCKET UPPER Filed June 25, 1946 W Jase H- USS/5 M a if y UNITED itgSTATES PATIENT FF 1 cs JSHOEWITH BELLoWs rocker UPPER 'f' Joseph A. .Lussier,Watertown, assignor to A 'I fh e B. E.;Go0drich Company, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York This invention. relates. to shoes constructedv so as to be easily donnabletand especially to easily donnable beach-type shoes comprising essentially non-stretchable material; and preferred methods of making the same. l I

The principal objects of this invention are to provide easily donnable shoes. comprisingiessen tially non-stretchable material; to construct such shoes in a manner whereby they conform closely to the foot :while being worn;.to11construct shoes whereby. additional. width. is provided .in the mouth opening thereof withouthaving any other openings in the upper portion through which sand or other foreign material could enter, to construct such shoes in-a simple and economical manner; and, generally, to provide shoes which have a neat and pleasing appearance.

For many types of low-shoes, it is desirable to be able to don them easily much as a slipper is donned. This is especially true in the case of beach shoes. It is also desirable to have'the shoes fit closely about'the wearers foot after being donned so that the shoes can easily be kept on the foot without the necessity of using lacings or snaps. Two of the prime requisitesof such footwear are simplicity and "comfort; In the case of beach shoes and similar sport shoes, these requisites have led to theme of such materials as canvas and duclcfabrics in-constructing'the upper portion. These materials allow air to circulate through the shoe while excluding sand and other foreign material. w

Such materials, however, are essentially nonstretchable; and, in an ordinary shoerconstruction, if the mouth opening is made large enough that the shoe'is easilydonnable the opening is also so large that the-shoe-is-not easily kept'on the foot, If the shoe isconstructed, as certain slippers are, for ease in donning by cutting away a portion of the upper, sand and foreign material have a means of ingress into theshoe. Most sport shoes have acom'promise construction in which they are made close fitting -to some degree by sacrificing ease in donning. Y

By means of this invention, however; the shoe may be constructed of anysuitable essentially nonstretchable material so as to have-laterally expandable bellows pockets on each side of the mouth of the shoe. The shoe upper is-construct'ed so that the bellows 'pockets'tend to remain in a collapsed conditionwherebwth'e shoe fits'closely about the wearersfoot after it is "donned'without the necessity of auxiliary'fastenings; Theshoeis, however, preferably provide'd'withsuchiiauxiliary fastenings so that the: bellows' pdckets may :be

. 2 J secured in the collapsed condition if so desired. Further, .the bellows pockets are an integral part of the upperso that the only means of ingress for sand and other foreign matter is through the mouth opening of the shoe.

. Theinvention is bestunderstood by reference to a preferred embodiment as typified by the low beach shoe illustrated in the accompanying drawings of which:

'.'Fig. 1 is a plan view of a pair of upper blanks which arecutv as the first operation in building the shoe;

. Fig. 2 is a perspective view illustrating the manner "in Which the blanks are joined and folded into a shoe-like upper portion; a section of the upper havingbeen cut away'for clarity of illustration;

Fig. 3 is a section taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 2

- Fig. 4 is a top elevation'of the'assembly after the :shoe-like upper portion has been attached to asole portion;

' Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the shoe subsequent to the finishing operations; and Fig: 6 is a section taken on line 66 of Fig. 5.

In the preferred method of constructing a low 7 beach shoe asillustrated by the drawings, a pair of upper blanks l e and H are cut from essentially non-stretchable material which may be any of the suitable Woven fabrics or leather; or other suitable material and, in this preferred embodiment; the material consists of a heavy, coarse duck l2 and a light, fine duck l3 plied together. Theblanks out are reverse counterparts, and each comprises half of the vampl l, l4, quarter [5, l5, and tongue it, it which together constitute the upper portion. 'Each of the blanks is L-shaped with the vamp and tongue portions of the blank forming one leg of the L and the quarter portion forming the-other leg as contrasted to the usual pattern for, paired upper blanks where the blank lies in a generally straight line. These L-shaped blanks each have a triangularly shaped section I1, I! at the region of the juncture of the vamp and quarter portion, such triangular sections being of suflicient size to form bellows pockets.

Thenext step in the construction'of the shoe consists of folding each of the blanks to form a bellows pocket. 'The. material in the region of the juncture o-f'the vamp l4 and quarter l5 portions is 'folded so that the quarter portion extends forwardly along the outside of the vamp portion. This results in a recess 18 extending backwardly (Fig. 3) from the vamp portion. The vertical marginal regions l9, l9" ofthe material forming this recess l8 are" then joined togetherfrom' the lower margin 2| of the blank tothe upper margin 22 of the folded material, preferably by a line of stitching 20.

The quarter portion is then folded back along the outside of the backwardly extending recess l8 forming a forwardly extending outer recess 23. The fold is made such that the entire folded portion is of a generally triangular shape with the apex at the lower margin 2| of the blank, and such that the lower margin 24 of the quarter portion l5 forms a common line with the lower margin 25 of the vamp portion. The triangular section at the juncture of vamp and quarter portions thus forms the outer wall of the backwardly extending recess l8 and the inner wall of the forwardly extending outer recess 23. The vertical marginal regions 26, 26 of the material forming the outer recess 23 are joined together by stitching 2'! from the lower margin 2! of the blank to the upper margin 22 of the folded material. In order to form an enclosed heel portion 28, the vertical edges 29,29 (Figs. 1 and 6) of the quarter portions i5, 55 are joined at a seam 36 extending from the lower margin 25 to the upper margin 3! of the quarter portions. The seam 39 joining the quarter portions bisects the heel portion 23. The heel portion is reinforced by a counter 32 which is attached to the inner surface of the heel portion 253.

The upper blanks Hi and ii are then stitched together at a longitudinal seam 33 extending from the upper margin 34 of the tongue portions i6, iii to the forward tip 35 of the vamp portions M, iii. The upper blanks ii! and H thus joined at the longitudinal seam 33 described above and at the vertical seam 3S bisecting the heel portion form a shoe-like upper assembly as shown in Fig. 2.

A suitably shaped sole portion is provided which preferably consists of an insole 36 and an outsole 3?. The insole is preferably of a, flexible rubber material faced with fabric, although any suitable flexible material may be used. The outsole is preferably of tough, flexible rubber material having a tread design on the outer surface.

The shoe-like upper assembly (Fig. 2) is then marginally attached to the sole portion with the lower margin of the upper assembly preferably being sandwiched between theinsole 36 and the outsole S'i. The blanks which comprise the upper assembly have been so cut that the upper assembly is attached to the sole portion in a smooth, unwrinkled contour around the entire circumference of the sole portion. This smooth contour made possible by the shape in which the upper blanks were cut. The sole portion and the shoelike upper assembly together form a. foot-enclosing assembly.

To give the foot-enclosing assembly a neat and finished appearance, a binder strip 38 is applied around th mouth opening of the upper so as to bind the upper margin of the quarter, tongue and bellows pockets. The lower part of the assembly is finished by attaching a foxing strip 39 around the entire outer circumference of the foot-enclosing assembly. The foxing extends over the lower marginal region of the shoe-like upper and the outer edge of the sole portion.

The finished assembly now constitutes a low shoe with a bellows pocket on each side of the tongue. The outer forwardly extending fold of each bellows pocket provides a blucher-type flap. A lacing eyelet Ml is inserted near the top of each blucher-type flap so that the shoe may be held closely about the foot by means of a single lace H, The bellows pockets are laterally expandable to provide additional width in the mouth opening to facilitate donning the shoe. The joined margins tend to hold the pockets in a collapsed condition so that the shoe fits closely about the foot. The bellows pockets, being an integral part of the upper, provide additional width without the necessity of an opening in the upper assembly except for the mouth opening. This is especially important in a beach shoe to prevent sand from getting into the shoe. By this method, it is not necessary to use stretchable material in the construction. Instead a material may be used which provides a comfortable shoe for beach wear.

In the shoe constructed according to this invention, the walls of the bellows pockets lie generally parallel to the longitudinal axis of the shoe, and the pockets are laterally expandable with respect to this axis. Furthermore, since even the inner faces of the pockets lie parallel to the longitudinal axis of the shoe, forward pressure by the wearers instep on the tongue and vamp of the shoe merely exerts a forward pull on the innermost wall of the bellows pocket and does not tend to expand the bellows pockets and they remain in a collapsed condition flat against the side of the foot. Thus, the shoe always fits closely about the foot even without the use of auxiliary fastenings.

On the other hand, the pockets are easily expanded laterally so that the mouth of the shoe enlarges laterally while the foot is being inserted and then returns to its former condition in which the pockets lie'flat against the sides of the foot.

The details of construction may be varied somewhat as may the kind of non-stretchable material used. The method described is applicable for use in the construction of any shoe where additional width is desired to facilitate donning the shoe. In the construction, a. standard last may be used and the method involves no special operations or materials except as specifically indicated.

A shoe constructed according to this invention is easily donnable and fits closely about the wearersfoot after being donned without the use of auxiliary fastening means although such auxiliary fastening means are provided to be used if desired. The shoe is constructed of non stretchable materials which are desirable for comfort in service. The finished shoe has no openings into the body of the shoe except the mouth opening thus preventing the entrance of foreign material into the shoe. The method of manufacture is simple and economical, and is adaptable to various types of footwear employing any suitable essentially non-stretchable material. The finished shoe has a neat and pleasing appearance.

While'the invention has been described in considerable detail with reference to certain preferred embodiments and methods of construction, it will be understood that variations and modifications thereof may be effected without departing from the spirit and scope of this invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A low shoe comprising a fiat sole portion joined to an instep-height upper portion of substantially inelastic textile fabric comprising a vamp, tongue and quarters, said shoe having at each side thereof in the normal region of the juncture of the vamp, tongue and quarters a laterally expandable bellows pocket extending generally normal to the sole portion vertically throughout the extent of the upper portion in a plane generally parallel to the longitudinal axis of the shoe, each said pocket lying in a double fold resembling a flattened Z, the inner wall of each pocket being a backwardly directed extension of the vamp and tongue and the outer wall being a forwardly directed extension of the quarters, said pockets being positioned at the sides of the tongue so that forwardly exerted pressure on the tongue and vamp is transmitted to the pocket in the plane of the pocket.

2. A low shoe of the oxford type comprising a substantially fiat sole portion extending the length of the shoe joined to an instep-height upper portion of substantially inelastic textile fabric, said upper portion comprising a pair of joined sectional members which are reverse counterparts forming quarters, vamp and tongue, said vamp, tongue and quarters being merged at each side of the shoe in a double folded laterally expandable generally vertical pocket member resembling a flattened Z and consisting of a rearwardly closed inner fold extending backwardly from the tongue and vamp and a forwardly closed outer fold extending forwardly from the quarters and overlying a part of the vamp and tongue, each said double folded pocket lying throughout its extent in a plane generally parallel to the longitudinal axis of the shoe and extending vertically from the sole portion to the top of the upper portion.

3. A low shoe comprising a substantially flat sole portion extending the length of the shoe joined to an instep-height upper portion of substantially inelastic duck fabric, said upper portion comprising a pair of joined sectional members which are reverse counterparts forming vamp, tongue and quarters,'said vamp, tongue and quarters being merged at each side of the shoe in a double folded laterally expandable pocket member extending vertically from the sole portion to the top of the shoe generally normal to the plane of the sole and lying throughout its extent in a plane generally parallel to the longitudinal axis of the shoe, each said pocket member in cross section resembling a flattened Z and consisting of a rearwardly closed inner fold extending backwardly from the tongue and vamp and a forwardly closed outer fold extending forwardly from the quarters and overlying a part of the vamp and tongue, said pocket member having the folded edges thereof diverging upwardly from the sole portion forming a gradually widened pocket member.

JOSEPH A. LUSSIER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

